Louds Apart
by grantingtherant
Summary: Taking Place one year after the events of Suite and Sour and L is for Love, Rita and Lynn, Sr. have quietly divorced. Rita remains in Royal Woods with Leni, Luna, Lucy, Lana, and Lisa, while Lynn, Sr heads west to Rose Grove, California with Luan, Lynn, Lincoln, Lola, and Lily. With the sudden changes to the family's structure, how will the Loud children adapt?
1. Chapter 1: Rose Grove

A/N: What am I doing on here? Eh, I got a few ideas for some fanfiction so I'll post them here. This takes place a year after the events of Suite and Sour and L is for Love, and the parents have quietly divorced.

Inspired by an RP idea thought up by Norththegem on tumblr. Check us out at "oneforall-allforeleven" over on tumblr!

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Rose Grove

After 12 years of living on this earth, Lincoln finally got an actual room all to himself. While he did used to live in a linen closet, this was the first room he had that really was his own room. He ecstatically started to plan out his decorations, wondering where each of his Ace Savvy and 18th Century Field Cannon posters should go. He began to unpack. Of his few personal belongings, the most he owned where his comic books, a few changes of the same orange polo and jeans combo, and his laptop. Unlike one of his sisters, he didn't have a problem leaving some of his stuff behind. Speaking of them, most of the house was out furniture shopping. Apart from the mattresses bought this morning, the house was completely unfurnished. All five of the Loud kids groaned and complained about this, but they couldn't really argue. Mom and Dad were separated, and half of them were going to move to California. Life was going to be better, right? Less distractions and the land of opportunity kept the paternal half of the Loud House excited for the future ahead of them.

Lincoln's face went cold. He loved his father, he really did. But there was one thing he really didn't understand. Why now? Everything just seemed… so sudden. There wasn't much fanfare, and that's what surprised him the most. He didn't want to bring it up to the old man, it just wasn't the right time. When was it really, though? Lincoln shook his head as he lay down on his new mattress, which lie shoved in the corner of the floor. He stared up at his new ceiling. It was a bland off-white, glow fortified by the fluorescent light bulb that dominated the scene. The only thing Lincoln knew for certain was that this wasn't the Loud House. Mom owned that place now. For Lincoln, it was history. Yes, he could see it every once in a while, but that didn't mean anything if he didn't see the rest of his family. He was used to the chaos, but now the new house was too quiet for its own good.

A knock snapped Lincoln out of his trance. "Come in," he said.

Luan stepped through the threshold. "Hi Lincoln." She said as she walked over to his bed, sitting down.

"This is real, right Luan?" Lincoln asked.

Luan sighed, "I had to close down Funny Business. Of course it's real Lincoln."

Lincoln obviously knew it was real life, but he hardly felt like a human anymore. He sat up to hug his comedian sister. "I know, but it's just..." Lincoln trailed off. He didn't like to admit whenever he'd feel emotional, but sometimes it would just begin to come out on its own.

Luan noticed his frown and perked up. "Why the long face, Link? You seem to have been broken up all day today!" She laughed at her own stupid joke, but immediately stopped when she noticed Lincoln glaring back with a nonverbal contempt. It was her turn to frown now. Not everyone was able to turn a less than ideal situation into a joke goldmine. Luan wasn't even dealing with the situation very well on her own part. The more she tried to joke about the divorce, the more she realized that maybe she wasn't that funny. While she had been able to let go of that mindset before, that was when the other half of her family was there. That was when she could bounce jokes off of Luna. Lynn wasn't quite as receptive to that idea as Luan had hoped, if her missing scrunchy thrown off the Nebraska freeway and bruised shoulder was anything to say.

All Lincoln wanted to do was yell at Luan for how tasteless her joke was and how much she wasn't funny right now. It wasn't immediately obvious, but he felt a strange feeling of emptiness filter into his skin. Lincoln wouldn't be able to jam out with Luna ever again, hunt ghosts with Lucy, or save animals with Lana for a long time. To him this was a family travesty, and here was Luan treating it like a sketch. Yet, Lincoln could only mope to himself. Was he the reason the divorce happened? Or was it Luan?

She hugged him back. "I'm sorry Lincoln. Seriously, I'm having a lot of trouble going through this as well. You could say I'm split by the situation—" Luan slapped her forehead, "God dammit, sorry."

Lincoln rolled his eyes "It's alright," his voice cracked.

The next few moments hung in the stale offwhite air. Luan didn't bother to put up her ponytail anymore, and Lincoln's usually well trimmed hair was starting to show its' length. They both knew what the divorce meant for them, but they couldn't help thinking it was their own fault, no matter how much their father insisted

Luan gave a pained sigh, "I'm a shitty comedian, aren't I?"

Lincoln felt his gut wrench as he heard this statement. Even if she was sometimes a bit too much for her peers, Luan was the funniest one of his sisters, and he loved whenever she told stories or when he saw her stand-up routines. He assisted in her clowning business, so if anyone knew how funny she was, it was him. Yet, of all of his sisters, Luan cursed less than normal. Yeah, Lynn and Luna would constantly curse whenever Mom and Dad weren't home, and Lori would throw in precision f-bombs whenever the phone connection died. Luan, normally jolly in tone, just called herself 'shitty.' Not bad, not subpar, 'shitty.'

He stood up. "You're not shitty," Lincoln started, "I know you're not shitty because I've been through your comedy sets and loved them!"

To his surprise, Luan actually began to get mad. "You tolerated them because you're family. You were my assistant." Luan snapped. "You don't actually think I'm funny."

Lincoln jumped. "No, Luan," he said, voice cracking, "I really do think you're funny!"

"Oh yeah?" Luan jumped up and stomped her way to the door. "Tell that to Mom. I bet she was torn apart when she sent me— Oh god dammit!"

Lincoln winced as Luan slammed the door. He fell onto the bed and groaned. Why was Luan acting so moody recently? Lucy stayed with Mom, wasn't she supposed to be the moody one? Lincoln lingered on about how many Luan was going through one of her "moody phases," which only got him thinking about his own future. He hadn't quite hit that growth spurt yet, but he was anticipating it any second now. He already had the Talk with his Dad, but now his Dad was going to be working overtime much more often. It was necessary to pay the rent, yet Lincoln felt cheated out. All his sisters got to talk about the issue of growing up and they all had a way to vent their feelings. There was an untold rule in the house that one always talked to their next sibling up when it came to that stuff. Lincoln tried to air his grievances to Lynn, but it always ended the same way: "Get over it."

Rolling out of bed and leaving the boxes untouched on the floor, Lincoln walked out to the hall and climbed down the stairs. There wasn't any couches or seats since both of the Lynns and Lola were out shopping for furniture. Thankfully, their father had kept Vanzilla, or else he wouldn't have been able to go anywhere. While he would have been able to call a moving van to move his children's stuff across the country, he preferred to keep things small. In the end, everyone had to drop their stuff in Royal Woods and only bring one box. In the end, that was all that could fit into Vanzilla without completely weighing it down on its way to California. Lincoln could never forget how spacious the van he knew all his life could get when you removed Mom and six of his sisters.

The drive over was hellish in the summer heat of late August. While the midwest was considerably humid in the summer, the weather began to dry up the further from Michigan they got. They got back in touch with Lori and Bobby after a brief visit to Chicago, where she was attending school. Lincoln enjoyed seeing Ronnie for the last time there, but dinner and sleeping over at the Casagrandes was over in a flash, and before they knew it, the Louds were back on the road. Once in Iowa, the humidity spiked through the roof, and every pitstop covered half the family in mosquito bites. Virtually the only upside to that half of the drive was stopping in Denver for the night. The city was rather chill and exciting, with even Lola saying it was pretty, even if it did smell like skunks. Yet, they had to press through the Rockies to Salt Lake City, escape the arid salt flats toward Reno, and of course, beyond the Sierra Nevada into the Sacramento Valley. None of the Loud children had even heard of Sacramento before they found out they were going to move there. Naturally, after finding out it was the capital of California, they had high hopes for the city itself. Those expectations blew up in flames like the dead brush in the hellish California summer.

In the end, Dad found a place in Rose Grove that was cheap and had a decent neighborhood. The only problem was that he worked in the Bay Area and had to commute two hours each way by Amtrak train every day. Of course, the neighborhood was nothing like Franklin Street in Royal Woods. The blistering afternoon heat nearly gave the pasty skinned children a sunburn as they rushed into the shade of the McMansion's canopy. Soon enough, Lynn, Sr took a tour of the place, signed the paperwork, and was handed the keys.

From the outside, the house was pretty… big and bland. Every single house on the block looked exactly the same. Lola summarized it perfectly when she snarled about how it was probably the most boring place on the planet. Inside, the house was a eyesoring offwhite, just like the rest of the bedrooms. Lynn, Sr made sure to emphasize that the kids couldn't do anything reckless around here. They were renting, and he needed the deposit back incase anything bad happened.

All four bedrooms were upstairs, Lincoln and Lynn Sr were the only ones to live in their own rooms. Luan shared a room with Lynn and Lola shared her room with Lily. Lincoln assumed the same thing would happen when the other siblings would move in here: Leni with Luna and Lana with Lisa? Thinking of this reminded him of the crappy situation his parents made him go through. The empty, newly rented house didn't make him feel any happier. Before long, he found himself resenting everything. He couldn't help but think of why this had to happen. He didn't hear too many arguments between the parents. He knew he shouldn't be snooping around, so he didn't. The snoopiest of his snoopiest sisters should have some information on why they broke up, yet even Lola didn't have anything.

Recounting all the sisters who moved to California with him, Lincoln tried to reason why they would break apart. Their Mom had always had problems with Lynn's recklessness, and never so much as cracked a smile at Luan's pranks. Those two were hands down Dad's favorites, with Lincoln being in close third. But why Lola and Lily? Yeah, Lola might have been a spoiled brat, but Mom was always there to cheer her on during the pageant season and always assisted with her career as much as she could. Lily was a complete wildcard, but why did she go to Dad? Sure, she was now old enough to say basic phrases and chew her own food, yet Mom didn't want her. Counting off who was with who, he noticed a pattern: none of the roommates stayed with each other.

Lincoln looked beyond on both sides of his block. Everything was a beige or brown, except for the tiny, sparkling lawns that shouldn't have existed given how hot this place was. Lincoln wasn't too familiar with Californian Geography, so he just assumed it was all a desert outside. It had to be. Rose Grove was about the most average town he had seen since leaving Nebraska, and it didn't look like it was getting better any minute. At the very least, Vanzilla pulled into the driveway just in time to save him from the eyesore that was suburban California. Lincoln was about to wave hello, only to see his father more than a bit miffed, and his three other sisters looking defeated as they began to haul the new furniture to the car.

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A/N: I'll be posting more probably. Check for updates!


	2. Chapter 2: Royal Woods

A/N: This Fanfic was inspired by an RP idea thought up by tumblr user NorththeGem. Check out our RP group at oneforall-allforeleven over at tumblr!

Every chapter will go back and forth between Rose Grove and Royal Woods. Hopefully I'll be updating this weekly, so stay tuned!

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Royal Woods

Luna paced to the door, trying to let the moment sink in. In her hand were the papers: she had passed her driving test. Taking a deep breath, she unlocked the door, only to find it already unlocked. Luna rolled her eyes as she pushed it open. Immediately, all four of her currently present sisters jumped out and congratulated her on her efforts. Lucy, Lana, and Leni immediately jumped in for a hug, with Lisa and Rita joining in at their own pace.

"Thanks, little dudettes!" Luna said, "I can't wait to start driving y'all around soon."

As much as Luna loved the positive vibes in the house, it wasn't enough to make up for the missing seven from this house. Of course, Lori was in college, but without Luan, Lynn, Lincoln, Lola, and Lily, this celebration felt hollow. There would be no celebratory prank from Luan, no congrats punches from Lynn, no awkward gift from Lincoln. Lola wouldn't brag about how much better her ride was – that was Lana's now. Still, Luna held up a grin as she presented her new driver's license documents to half of her family.

"I have an idea," Luna continued, "Let's go on a road trip to see Dad at some point!"

The younger girls cheered. Leni looked back at Luna a little bit more confused. The concept of a divorce hadn't quite processed in her head yet. It didn't help that Leni had been out shopping most of the time that the reorganization happened. The last time Leni had seen her Dad was a week ago. She had just assumed he went to buy more groceries for dinner and was late. Like many other things that didn't involve aesthetics or morality, she didn't really give it a second thought.

Leni raised an eyebrow. "Wait," she started, "I thought Dad was just going to the store."

The celebration halted. A silence flickered throughout the living room. Leni stared at everyone, curious as to why the fanfare stopped. Luna broke away from the family hug. _What a way to ruin the moment, Leni,_ Luna thought as she sat over by the couch.

Their Mom was the first to break the silence. "Leni?" she started, "I have some news to tell you. Your father and I divorced."

Leni gasped, "Oh em gosh! Just now?"

Everyone slapped their forehead at this remark out of habit. Usually, Leni was used to this type of reaction, but with less people, it seemed to be even more distressing somehow. She knew she wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but she couldn't help it. Leni, while she was a master fashionista and adept craftswoman, she was a bit blunt and dense. Usually, she would make up for this with her kindness, but in this situation, everyone seemed to hate her. The wave of totality finally hit Leni.

She backed up onto the couch, next to Luna, and sat down. For a moment, she was speechless. When she finally spoke, she mumbled.

"I was wondering where Luan, Lynn, Langston, Lola, and Lily were." She said, defeated, "I never got to say goodbye..."

Luna looked over at her older sister, then over to the rest of her present family. The living room was so much bigger without the seven missing pieces to the puzzle. Leni was clearly holding back tears as she stared into the void. Lucy's lack of an expression was even more morose than it usually was, whereas Lisa just seemed to hold her own as she usually did. Lana was diverting her eyes from the scene. Watching Leni fully process the absence of her father was painful to say the least.

Tears began to well up in Leni's eyes. "W-will I ever see them again?"

"Yes," said their mother, "Lincoln, Lola, and Lily will be coming back over the winter."

"Oh, okay," Leni tried to calm herself down with this news, but it was only a matter of time before her tears fell. Luna gently massaged Leni's neck as she began to cry a little louder. She let Leni's head fall onto her shoulder, allowing her to sob like a baby. A pang of nostalgia hit Luna, reminding her of Lily. Of all of her siblings, Luna held Lily the most, since when she wasn't laying down sick jams, her hands were usually free to help out. As a result, Luna picked up a few tricks for consoling the sad.

"Don't cry," Luna started, singing a song she used to sing to Lily all the time, "Don't brace your eyes. It's only teenage wasteland…"

Before long, the rest of the siblings began to react to the scenario, with Rita leaving to her own room. Lisa walked back up to her room to continue whatever experiment she was doing. Lucy stood still, unsure of how to interpret the situation. In the end, she only sighed and walked up the stairs to her room. Lana walked forward, wanting to join in helping Leni out. Even if she was usually covered in mud, she was still as loving as the other siblings. Yet, as soon as she was done hugging Leni, she walked outside. While Leni never outright cried a river, she was still floored that no one told her that her parents went through a divorce. For Luna, the celebration of her finally getting her driver's license was long gone. It was clear that nobody really cared about the license anymore.

As soon as she felt the phone vibrate in her purse, Luna took it out and checked the message. Smirking a little at Sam's name, she was pleased to hear that at least someone cared about Luna's accomplishments. Luna quickly texted her back, affirming the news before attending to more pressing matters. Leni started to mellow out once Luna turned on the TV. Thankfully, the same reality shows that Leni used to watch with the rest of the family were still available. Luna passively enjoyed the trashy TV while Leni got engrossed in the drama. She smiled, watching her simple minded older sister quickly forget about the divorce. Soon enough, Luna was able to stand up and stretch. Her stomach grumbled a bit, so she got up to go to the kitchen.

Mac and Cheese balls. Goulash. Nothing beat Lynn, Sr.'s cooking. Yeah, they might have had a limited diet during busier weeks, but after having dinner at Sam's a few times, Luna learned to appreciate her father's cooking. The fridge was empty. Besides a few half eaten sandwiches, a carton of eggs, and half gone half and half, the entire fridge was gone. The freezer only showed a bag of frozen sliders. Disappointed, Luna slammed the door of the fridge shut and washed her hands.

As she walked back to the couch in defeat, her Mom came out of the room, fully dressed up in a new outfit. It was a black dress with spaghetti straps and ended at her mid thighs. While it was a beautiful dress, someone of Rita's age probably shouldn't have been wearing it out in public. Luna seemed more confused than anything. As her mom twirled around, Luna tried to ignore it as she rushed herself back to the couch.

"What do you think, Luna?" her mom asked, "I had an idea earlier today. If you passed your driving test, maybe we can go for a ladies' night out, or something like that. Just you and me."

"What about Leni?" Luna said, hoping to get out of the possible problem.

Rita looked over to see Leni eagerly listening in, much to her chagrin.

"Nice outfit, Mom!" said Leni, "Are you going to be going out for dinner?"

Rita forced a grin. "Yes, Leni, it's a ladies' night thing."

Leni didn't get the hint. "Oh wow! Sounds exciting! Can I come?"

Not wanting to go alone, and feeling bad for accidentally making Leni upset earlier, Luna pounced at the opportunity for her to come.

"Of course!" Luna screamed, excited, "You're my older sister, I'd love to go out to dinner with you!"

"Oh em gosh, Luna!" Leni said, "Thank you for, like, being my sister!"

"No prob, Lennon!" said Luna, touting an old nickname. She held her hand out to Leni and helped her get off the couch.

Rita sighed in defeat. "Okay, I'll fix our reservation so that it's us three. The only problem is that the girls don't have a babysitter."

"I thought Lily went with Dad?" Leni asked.

Luna rolled her eyes, "Look, I'll try to find someone. Can you give me a minute?"

"Sure, you have till 5pm to find a babysitter!" Rita said, walking up to the bathroom to do her makeup.

Walking out to the porch, Luna paced around for a few moments. She had a few friends who might be interested in babysitting, but that's not the part that Luna was concerned about. Mainly, Luna didn't like making phone calls. It always made her nervous not seeing the people she talked to, and it didn't help that she had made some embarrassing voice mails on Lori's inbox before. Luna tried to justify this to herself: she was asking for a favor, she could negotiate payment later with Mom. Sucking her problems up, she dialed the number. Within two rings the person on the other line picked up.

"Hello?" said Sam. A moment passed, Luna felt a knot in her throat. "Luna?"

Luna stuttered. "H-Hi, Sam."

"Hey!" Sam replied, "Congrats on passing your driver's test babe!"

"T-thanks, I was wondering if you'd be down to c-c-c" the knot tightened. The two had been going out since before summer, but Luna still had a hard time talking to her. The divorce hadn't helped.

"Take your time, babe."

Even though she was herself a frequent poet, Luna had a hard time thinking of how to word her sentence. She wanted to get her point across without making it sound like a date. Though with a few more moments of silence, Sam began to get more worried.

"Lunes?" Sam said. "Here, I'll come over quick, you can tell me in person."

Luna stood there, stunned. "…Okay…"

"See you in fifteen!" Sam hung up.

Staring at her phone, Luna checked the time. 4:40. Great, time to get everyone into place and tell them that Sam was babysitting. Except she wasn't. Luna still needed to tell her that. She started pacing in place, not realizing another family member was standing right there.

"Luna?" Lana said, noticing her older sister in a minor panic, "Who's Sam? And why's he coming over?"

"Sam's my… uh," Luna stuttered, "She's coming over to babysit you, Lucy, and Lisa tonight. Mom, Leni and I are going out to dinner, so you better be on good behavior."

When Luna gave more than a few seconds thought to it, she realized that despite sharing a room with the twin for a short period of time, Luna never told Lana about Sam. Luna had a hard time describing her, or rather, how cool she was. As the bassist to her school band, Sam was a master of scales and harmonies. It seemed whatever Luna and Sam played, it always sounded good. Luna would never forget the second she began to like her, yet before she could reminisce, Luna was distracted by a gentle tugging on her plaid skirt.

Lana squinted in confusion, scratching her head. "You okay, Luna?"

Luna blinked. Another, all too familiar voice spoke.

"Earth to Luna!" Sam teased.

Panicking, Luna jumped back.

"You're here!" she said.

"Of course, Lunes," Sam smiled, "A few minutes early even. What did you want to tell me?"

Luna blushed a bit, completely not ready to ask Sam to babysit her sisters. Without anything to say, Luna just grinned a bit.

"What's the matter?" Sam asked.

"Look," Luna stumbled, "I just wanted to… uh, yeah… ask if I could… uh…"

"Go out?" Sam was jumping the gun a bit, but balked as soon as she realized how much she embarrassed Luna.

Turning blood red, Luna covered her face. Lana stared in awed silence.

"What's going on, Luna?" wondered Lana, "Is this the Sam person you wanted to have babysit us?"

Luna nodded vigorously. Finally taking her hands off her face, she gasped for air.

"Only if you want to though…" she finally spat out.

Sam frowned, looking a bit disappointed at the outcome, but managed to smile anyway.

"Sure, Lunes." Sam embraced Luna. "When are you leaving?"

Luna gave her the gist of what it would be like babysitting the three younger siblings still present in Michigan. It was a quick tour of what to do, and thankfully, the job was mostly just hanging out with Lana for a few hours. Lucy and Lisa tended to be more innocuous in their solitude. Despite the initial embarrassing moment earlier, Luna seemed to be getting along quite well with her crush. Even so, Luna was careful not to completely spill the beans about their budding relationship. What would Mom think of her daughter being gay? Luna wasn't sure of the answer. She was sure it was yes, at least until the divorce. After that, Luna couldn't tell what was going on in her mom's head. Even if she was closer to Dad, Luna still wanted to somehow be close to her mom, though, so she would have to go through this. Thankfully, Sam would be babysitting, and Leni would be there for moral support. At least Luna had company and the knowledge that her sisters are in good hands. Soon enough, it was time to pass the torch, and Luna finally got ready.

Her outfit was handpicked by Leni, a stylish knee-length violet empire dress that Lori wore on a Bobby date once. Leni's outfit was a semi-formal dress Lori wore to a school dance once, around the same time Lori started dating Bobby. Luna noticed this, but Leni just shrugged.

"Really? These dresses are Lori's?" she said, confused, "I thought they were mine. I've never seen her wear it."

As Luna and Leni walked down the stairs, they spotted Sam and Lana chatting together, along with Rita. Luna blushed and looked to the side a little bit, at least until she heard the barrage of compliments. Luna didn't mind trying out new styles, but she was never sure if the style she tried to wear was acceptable in Sam's mind. Since Sam liked it though, Luna mustered herself to look over at her crush. Sam's face lit up upon seeing Luna dressed all fancy, but before anymore words could be exchanged, Rita began to push Luna and Leni out the door. Luna was barely able to throw in a goodbye before the door shut.

Once at the car, Rita handed Luna the keys. Luna was a bit more than confused. "Wait, Mom, I just got my license today," she started, "and you want me to drive to the restaurant?"

"Oh," her mom barely listened to Luna, "And drive me back if you don't mind."

Leni only caught the vital details, saying, "Oh em gosh, Luna! You're like going to drive us? I can't wait!"


	3. Chapter 3: Rose Grove

A/N: Based on a roleplay idea from Norththegem. Come check our RP group out at oneforall-allforeleven on tumblr!

In this episode, we get to see the rest of the Rose Grove crew while they try to furnish their home in a Scandinavian Furniture superstore. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep dropping actual names of real things in the future. If I do stop the product placement, then I'm going to edit this chapter to include less of it. Just tell me I don't owe Taco Bell and IKEA a paycheck.

Rose Grove

IKEA stood menacingly above the four Louds. Both Lynns stood distracted by the Swedish flag while Lola swooned at the prospect of getting her furniture from a country that had a King. As she stared at the blue and yellow, Lily tugged on her princess dress.

Lily was busy growing older as Lola found her harder and harder to carry with one arm. After all, she was 2 years old, now the toddler could be referred to in years. While Lily still preferred sitting down, she was old enough to walk freely on her own, and wouldn't object to a little running around. This didn't matter too much, though, since IKEA usually had a child daycare.

"I've heard of these places before," Lynn, Sr told his three children, all of which were completely uninterested in his ramblings, "I had a Swedish roommate while I was studying abroad in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland." The girls sighed in embarrassment as he switched his accent to his terrible British accent. "I picked up some svenska from him, so perhaps this will work…"

Having never been to an IKEA before, Lynn Sr huffed himself up a bit and walked up to the customer service desk. He straightened his collar a bit and leaned on the desk, clearing his throat, "Talar du engelska?"

The customer service agent's expression flipped from bored to confused and bored. "What?" she said.

"So that means you speak English, huh?" Lynn decided to play his embarrassing interaction off as long and gruelingly as possible. "Say, where's the newly moved to Cali department?"

The agent shrugged. "Sir, have you been to an IKEA before?"

Lynn, Sr hadn't.

The agent motioned to the hallway to the rest of the store. She sighed, "Sir, if you and your daughter's can just follow the people going around the store, you can start looking at the stuff you like. Then you can go get the stuff you want from the warehouse downstairs."

As the Louds were walking off to the gauntlet, however, the agent decided to delay them one last time.

"Do you want to put your middle daughter in the daycare center here?" she added.

Lola had been quiet this entire time, still trying to keep herself level headed for whatever reason. The entire time her father had been trying to figure out how IKEA worked, she had been staring into the daycare, wincing at the idea of going in there. The saccharine colors and exceedingly neat Scandinavian designs seemed rather off to the princess. Not only that, but it seemed all the kids playing in there were all about Lily to Lisa's age. Indisputably, Lola would be the oldest person in there. Unless she was able to play with Lily, however, Lola didn't want to go in there. Hearing the agent make the proposition diverted her attention.

"If I go," Lola started, "Can I bring Lily with me?"

"Is she potty trained?" The agent asked.

She wasn't. Of course she wasn't. Potty training Lily was like asking Lana to shower after a mud bath: it simply wasn't possible. Lola said, "Well, she's not yet—"

"Then she can't go." The agent retorted, "So, will it be just you?"

Lola scoffed, "Excuse me? But I'm not going in there unless Lily's going!"

Lily could sense the tension of the situation and began to tug on her dad's coat.

Lynn, Sr took the hint. "I guess we'd better get going. See you later!"

Despite her father beginning to leave, Lola kept ranting at the agent, who stood silently ignoring every other word coming out of Lola's mouth. Lynn, Jr noticed this, rolled her eyes, and grabbed Lola by the arm. Lola was quick to wrestle herself out of the grasp, but Lynn was trained in retaliation. Accidentally shaking Lily up a bit, Lynn held Lola in an arm lock while the princess kept getting louder, believing that her argument was stronger with each higher decibel. Once back in Dad's hands, Lynn raced back to the agent.

"I'm sorry for the inconvenience. My sister's a bit of a hothead."

"No," the agent started, "I'm sorry for you. You have a weirdo family."

Lynn awkwardly chuckled, "They're not too bad."

"Where are you from?" The agent asked, "You don't sound like you're from here."

"Royal Woods," Lynn said, "It's in Michigan."

"Fancy." The agent seemed to lose interest, instead talking to another customer.

In the end, Lily had to be strapped to Lynn Jr. The younger Lynn bemoaned this, yet she put up with it. As much as she wanted to play around the store, Lynn knew that it was probably not a great idea. Strapping a baby to her chest was an ideal way to make sure she didn't do that.

As the children regrouped, their dad huddled them. He stated his rules: "Alright, kids, I want you to be on your best behavior. That means Lola, no yelling, and Lynn Jr, no playing football with the furniture. Your responsibility is taking care of Lily, do I make myself clear?"

Lola and Lynn rolled their eyes. Of course they knew better.

"Yeah, dad, we hear ya," They replied.

Lynn, Sr then began to stroll down the crowded halls of pristine Swedish furniture, mass produced from some Taiwanese factory just to be built by first world citizens with bad reading comprehension. Lola gazed at every single item before here, everything looking nice, but not like anything she wanted. The bright and artsy chairs were cute, but didn't fit the her regal interests. Even with names like Flygsbusarna and Morbrorsälgen, nothing stood out. It didn't matter, Lola could barely read it anyway. The more she browsed, the more she wished death upon the Swedish and their stupid language. As much as she wanted to rant about everything being ugly, though, she couldn't; Daddy told her not to do that. Lola huffed. Maybe she could just call them ugly in her head. Perfect. There wasn't quite the catharsis of reaction, however, and Lola trudged on.

The younger Lynn paced with her Dad, passing by the various artsy fartsy display furniture, nothing coming out as bold and brash as she would have liked. What did it matter anyway? She wasn't allowed to paint the room and half of it was going to Luan. Why wasn't she here to help decorate the room, anyway? Why couldn't Lincoln come?

Oh right. He said that he just wanted to chill at the house for a while. As for Luan, she said she didn't really care about furniture shopping. Their loss. Lynn gazed at the many styles of kitchens and living room fixtures, thinking about how she could easily climb them. As soon as she wanted to jump on them, however, Lily would fuss. She had been getting easily nauseous recently, but no one really knew why. Lynn was tempted to call up her mom and ask, but she didn't want to accidentally cause problems. After all, the kids were split for a reason. Lynn groaned as she carried the extra weight, trying to keep herself occupied enough to not practice her parkour.

The main causeway emptied into the warehouse through a downward staircase. At this point, Lynn had finally snapped and challenged Lola to a race.

"Pu-lease." Lola said, "not in this dress."

"Oh really?" Lynn gazed down to Lola, smirking. "Have you been gaining weight from all the travel and junk food we've been eating? We can't have a fat beauty queen, now can we?"

The ploy worked. Lola saw red as she matured into a flustered tomato. She bit her lip, screaming as she lifted her dress and took a headstart down the stairs. Lynn grinned as she followed suit, dodging past the other patrons, barely arriving before Lola. Through the heat of the moment and the fanfare, the two couldn't hear their father screaming down at them.

Reaching the bottom, Lynn Jr ran around in a circle, screaming "and the winner of the 100m dash is-" before getting rudely interrupted by her burden. Lily vomited a little bit before beginning to fuss even more, angrily flailing and screeching as Lynn desperately tried to shush her. The puking episode wasn't you the messiest thing in the world, but some of the puke did end up on Lynn and the floor. A few onlookers scowled in disgust. Lola crossed her arms and backed away, desperately trying to disassociate herself from the situation. Their father had had enough of his daughters' shenanigans. Thankfully, Lynn Sr carried around a few tissues.

"Give me your furniture preferences and stay exactly next to the cart." Issuing the ultimatum, their father expressed his utter disappointment, even though he barely raised his voice at all. "Save your screwing around for the playground.

"The rest of the errand commenced without a sound. Lynn, Lola, and Lily had never seen their Dad being this hard on them, but they just accepted this fact. Lynn suspected the divorce had really been biting at her father's teeth, and mostly wanted to stay out of the business. Lola felt obliged to be offended by her dad's sudden rudeness, yet she kept quiet. She didn't want to find out what other levels of anger he might have, since, after all, they were related and Lola's anger must have come from somewhere. The trip drained her energy, and she wasn't about to start a scene she couldn't finish, at least not when she didn't have her other siblings to back her up.

Soon enough, The Louds checked out, swung by Taco Bell for dinner, and arrived in the driveway of the new Loud House. Lincoln waved to them, enthusiastic about seeing the rest of his family arrive, but he noticeably dropped his expression when he saw the defeated looks on his sisters' faces.

"Lincoln!" Their father yelled, "help us with the furniture, will ya?"

"Sure," Lincoln's voice cracked as he ran over the van.

The younger Lynn laughed upon hearing his voice mid change. Popping open Vanzilla's trunk, she turned to the maturing boy, giving him a playful sock on the shoulder. Lincoln yelped, trading another punch, smirking. Yet, this pleasure was short lived.

"Lynn, Junior!" The elder shouted, "Stop picking on your brother!"

"But Dad—" Lynn complained, only to get interrupted.

"I want the furniture sets in the living room, right now!" the father demanded. "Your dinner is getting cold."

All the while Dad was commanding, Lola found herself wincing at every peep. She had never seen him like this, and it scared her. Quietly, Lola walked out of the van, making her way to the door while waiting for Lincoln and Lynn to pass though. Yet, a shriek caught her attention back to Vanzilla. Lily was still in the car, strapped helplessly to her car seat. Lola panicked, not seeing Lynn on her way to the van, lightly pushing her out of the way to grab her baby sister.

"Hey!" Lynn said, "What the hell was with that, Lola?"

Lola didn't pay any attention to Lynn as she unstrapped the car seat with as much case as she could. Lynn's rage only persisted until she realized what Lola was doing. With Lily now safe, Lola snuck back into her new, bland house. Sure, the house in Royal Woods might have been clunky in its own right, but it was nowhere near as bad as the menacing plainness as this one. It was only a matter of time before she was spotted by her dad, so she had enough time to brace herself when she did.

"Lola," Lynn, Sr asked, "why are you being so tense? Dinner's ready."

Lola winced. She had Taco Bell exactly once and boy did she hate it. "I'm not eating that gruel. Whatever happened to 'Chef Loud'?"

"Chef Loud lived in Royal Woods." Lynn the elder turned back to the microwaved fake Mexican food. "I guess your mother didn't appreciate that enough, so I'm pandering to your preferences."

Pouting, Lola began to fuss about it. "But Daddy," she yelled, "I prefer your cooking to that fast food garbage!" she crossed her arms and shot that bratty glance at him, "If you don't cook some real food right now, I'm gonna get—"

Before she could get mad, though, she noticed her father sighing. Lola felt a pang of guilt for her bad behavior. Instead of pressing her attack, she reeled herself back in.

"Sorry, Daddy," Lola said.

"No, I'm sorry, Lola," Lynn, Sr replied, hugging her little princess, "but this is all I could afford for dinner tonight. The entire trip sucked the life out of my savings, and I can't cook for you every night anymore. I have a four-hour commute to look forward to, so we're going to have to last with TV dinners and Mac n cheese."

By now, Lynn and Lincoln had finished taking in everything from the van. Lynn was barely breaking a sweat while Lincoln collapsed on the soon to be built couch's box. Upon hearing Dad's lament, both stared at him in disbelief. Luan had been hanging around upstairs, but had come down to share in the familiar disappointment.

"What?!" Lincoln and Lynn screamed in unison. "But we love your cooking!"

"Why would you take it away from us—" Luan slapped her own forehead, "DAMMIT! Stupid reflex puns!"

The father, tired as hell from driving and trying to appease his five kids, just looked away and gave everyone their meals, 2 tacos each and a plate of nachos to share. He sighed, "I just simply don't have the time and money to cook anymore. I'm sorry, I really am, but I can't anymore."

Gathered around the kitchen island, the four kids ate, avoiding each other's' gazes. Whenever Lynn, Sr tried to start up a conversation, the most response he would get was a bland affirmation that they heard him. Lola refused to touch her meal. Lynn started to eat it, but couldn't finish. The next hour passed in silence as Lynn and Lincoln built their new couch, entertainment center, dining room table, bookshelves, and bedframes. Luan and Lola stayed upstairs setting up their new bedrooms, which was mostly comprised of Lola complaining about the work and forcing a more irritated than ever Luan to do most of it. By 10pm, they were completely unpacked, and completely spent. Within the hour, they were asleep. The next day was their first day at the next school, and none of them were looking forward to it.

A/N: Alright, time to answer some questions in the reviews:

DarthSideous04 asks: Why exactly did they move to California, and not somewhere closer to Royal Woods?

It's because I'm from California and I'm more familiar with the Sacramento area and culture than I am with the Midwest. This story could have worked in another tech city like Austin, Seattle or Fargo, though since Sacramento itself isn't a tech city, then it'd be more like Lynn Sr. getting a job in Austin then commuting from Houston, or commuting from Olympia to Seattle.

364wii reviews: Hopefully in this story bullies don't beat the Louds every chapter like the last story I read of a divorce.

This is more of a character study than outright torturing the Loud kids. Yes, it's good to have tension in your story, but I'm not going to have Lincoln and Lola getting bullied every chapter, don't worry.

Guest asks: Can you make a part where the Cali kids go to a new school?

Next Rose Grove chapter, I promise.

Hopefully, the next chapter will be up soon! See you then!


	4. Chapter 4: Royal Woods

A/N: Sorry for the delay people, some real life stuff has been happening and keeping me busy. Fortunately, it's not the horrible kind of "real life stuff" you might expect. Still, hope you enjoy this chapter. Quite a bit of angst in this one, as I'm exercising a Luna Anxiety headcanon that I've had since I first started watching the show.

As always, the story was inspired by an RP idea by norththegem. Come check out our Loud House RP group at oneforall-allforeleven on tumblr!

Also, this story contains some alcohol content. Just letting you know.

* * *

Royal Woods

 _7 years ago_

"Daddy!" Luna yelled, excited jumping around the passenger's seat of Vanzilla, "Mick Swagger was so cool! I want to be like him someday! Can I get a guitar for Christmas?"

The past four hours had been hectic sitting in the nosebleed section of Detroit's Little Caesars Arena, but Luna still managed to hold herself high. Mick Swagger had been phenomenal, and to top it off, Luna was able to find her way down to the pit, all thanks to some chubby British teenager who called himself Chunk. The night was astounding, and Luna felt another step closer to her father. High from the excitement of her first concert (and possibly the weirdo with the skunk-like body odor next to her in the pit) Luna couldn't help but excitedly shimmy herself around her seat.

Lynn, Sr grinned, "Of course, honey, but you better play it every day. You got it?"

"Got it!"

"There you go, my little Rockstar." Lynn Sr patted Luna's head.

Her father's statement echoed like music in her ringing ears. Luna loved the sound of the word rockstar. It felt like she had finally found her calling. She couldn't wait to tell her sisters and her baby brother. Soon, Luna would tell Lori, Leni, Luan, Lynn, Lincoln and Lucy about her new passion. Of course, there was still the elephant in the room.

"Why couldn't Mom come again?" Luna asked, settling down from her jumping parade.

"Well, Luna," Lynn Sr said, "Mom's at home resting because she's going to give birth soon. We were actually planning on going together when we bought the tickets, but that was before we found out she was going to have twins."

Of course, Luna knew she was going to have two more baby sisters to look after, and she reveled at that fact. While she was nowhere near as girly as Lori or Leni, she still could appreciate their hand-me-down doll sets while still being up for some roughhousing and pranking around Lynn and Luan.

"I'm still trying to come up with names for them." Lynn Sr wondered, "I know Mom wanted to name one of them, so I can name the other. I was going to go with Lexx, but since she's a girl, what do you think, Luna?"

Luna thought back to the concert. There had been some amazing songs throughout the night, and it was hard for her to pick one name. Yet, there was one that ultimately stood out, even if it wasn't a Mick Swagger smash hit. It stood out since Mick himself admitted to never playing many covers, but he made an exception for his good friends from the Kinks.

"What about Lola?" Luna asked.

"Ahh!" Lynn Sr replied, "Lo-lo-lo-lo-lola! I like it, Luna. Thank you."

"No prob, pop-star." Luna grinned with jollity at her own nickname for her dad. It was her way of saying 'thanks for changing my life for the best.'

A few minutes passed in silence as Lynn Sr pulled into the Franklin Street exit. Once he was stopped by a light, he turned to Luna as he fumbled with the CD player.

"Luna," He started, "Can I show you another band I really loved when I was in the UK?"

"Show me, show me, show me!" Luna replied, entranced.

"Yeah," Lynn Sr said, "This band is called Blur, and this is the most British song in the world."

* * *

 _Present Day_

 _"Confidence is a preference for the habitual voyeur for what is known as…_

 _Parklife!"_

At the stoplight just before the Franklin Avenue entrance to the freeway, Luna bobbed her head back and forth behind the wheel to the tune of Blur's incredibly british tune, "Parklife." She sang along, with Leni staring at the scenery in the backseat. Leni loved all music, so she didn't mind some of Luna's heavier songs, even if this was far from the heaviest thing in her playlist. Rita, on the other hand, was gazing outside the window waiting for the right opportunity to speak out against the Britpop. It reminded her too much of… him. The time came when Luna was stopped in the afternoon traffic.

"Luna, honey," Rita began, "cam you change the music to something a bit more accessible?"

"What are you talking about, Mom?" Luna asked. This seemingly came out of nowhere, and managed to perplex the young musician. Time and time, again Luna remembered her mom enjoying this song alongside her dad. Luna frowned and changed to the next song. It was the Kinks playing the exact song Luna named Lola after. The other women in the car were perplexed. Leni didn't mind the song itself, but Rita was appalled.

"Luna," Rita said, unplugging Luna's phone from the jack, "I said accessible, not more Dad rock."

"Mom!" Luna yelled. If there was one thing that miffed Luna more than anything, it was rudely interrupting her music. Immediately after the music was disconnected, another British voice began to sing.

 _"Yo, I'll tell you what I want what I really really want_

 _So tell me what you want, what really really want."_

"Ooh!" Leni cheered, "I love this song!"

Luna was livid. Her driving reflected this, almost rear ending the car in front of her. While Luna didn't mind the Spice Girls, she certainly didn't like them. Hearing her top rated British rock selection overruled by manufactured pop stars nearly skinned Luna's ears, especially after being forced to change her song. Leni's off pitch singing didn't help soothe the hurt either. Thankfully, Luna pulled into Bangers and Mosh quick enough to shut the song off in the middle.

Once inside the restaurant, Rita continually complained about the atmosphere, how everything was so expensive, and the dreaded classic rock being played inside. At once, her complaints became too much as she ranted about a $60 blue rare steak.

"Then why'd you let us come here?" Luna retorted.

"You chose this place," Rita said, "Not me."

Luna rolled her eyes as she scoured the menu for something interesting. For as much as she loved the UK, she couldn't believe how bland everything looked. After a while, Luna gave up trying to find something appetizing that she just figured she'd pick at random. The waiter came around just in time.

"I'd like the, uh," Luna stumbled, trying to pronounce "Haggis, neeps, and tatties."

The waiter raised an eyebrow and smirked, putting on his best bad Scottish accent, "Going Scottish the day, are ya, Lassie?"

"Sure, dude." Luna handed the menu back to the waiter. _My future_ , she thought.

"And I would, like, like the garden burger with coleslaw salad instead of fries, please!" Leni said.

"Give me a Shepherd's pie, light on the peas." Rita mentioned, eying the waiter a bit before giving her menu back.

"Isn't pie for dessert, though?" Leni asked.

Rita immediately burst out laughing, confusing the poor soul even more. "Oh, Leni, Honey!" chuckled Rita, "You just say the darnedest things, don't you?"

"I really don't get it, actually." Leni said, feeling ashamed for not understanding what a shepherd's pie was. Rita was less than receptive, holding a plastic smile until someone made a move.

Thankfully, the waiter moved on. "Is that all for you?"

Taking the last of the menus, the waiter left. Immediately after he left her field of view, Rita dropped her smile. She turned to Leni, a glare flaring off herself.

"You don't seriously not know what a Shepherd's Pie is, right?" Rita asked. Leni shook her head. Rita sighed before she could say something truly embarrassing, instead hesitating for a second. Turning to both of her daughters, she shifted her tone to happy again. "Alright, ladies, who wants some drinks?"

As Rita walked over to the bar to get their drinks, Leni and Luna stared at each other. While they grew up together in the same house with the same sisters, besides their fashion sensibilities, they felt like they didn't have much in common. The uncomfortable silence, drowned out by the din of a busy night in the restaurant, was soon broken by a startled Luna. Mom had been taking her sweet time at the bar, fetching a coke for her and a glass of water for Leni, yet drinking an entire cocktail before continuing to chat with those at the bar. She seemed to forget that Luna's seat was facing in her general direction. Luna watched every single motion of her mother flirting with the bartender, fuming her with a rage she had never felt in years. Luna knew exactly where this rage came from. To her, it was the one thing she had in common with her Mom, and she wasn't exactly proud of this. Usually, Luan would be there disarm her with a joke so bad Luna would divert her rage, except she wasn't there. Luna felt her hand curl up into a fist, yet she didn't feel the loud crash when she slammed it on the table.

Leni jumped. "Luna!"

"God dammit," Luna hush yelled, "Leni, Please tell me I'm not the only one who noticed that Mom's… well, gone way crazy."

Leni thought for a moment. "I did notice she was a lot more friendly to the mailman and Mr. Yates down the street."

Clenching her teeth, Luna tried not to scream profanity at that name. Yates. The pretentious little family of goodie two shoes that warped the way she spoke for an entire month. Yeah, she might have registered a few immigrants to vote, but no word in proper english could she use to communicate just how uncomfortable she was through the entire fling. Knowing the Yateses were behind that, she had a bone to pick with each and every one of them and their wide, perfect glistening smiles.

Desperately wanting to move on, Luna rolled her eyes. "Look, Leni," she said, "The point is Mom has gone nuts since the divorce. I can't count the number of times she's winked at that bartender just now."

"Bartender where?" Leni looked around. Luna motioned behind Leni, but Leni pointed at herself. "Wait, since when am I a bartender?"

Luna gritted her teeth again. It was frustrating enough having to talk to her extremely dense sister, but this had been the most amount of time they had spent together since Lincoln was born. While she knew that Leni was dumb, it didn't occur to Luna just how dumb she was.

"Oh well, whatever, nevermind." Luna crossed her arms. She paid no attention to how lost Leni was. It wasn't that she didn't want to let her know the details – Luna knew the importance and responsibility for the eldest siblings to talk be the middle man in negotiations between parent and child. Luna also knew it was her job to keep her cool. It had been easy in the past, though that was when she preferred to stay out of family matters, instead letting Lori, Luan, and Lincoln deal with whatever was on the plate. Now it was her turn, and she felt underprepared as ever.

Leni frowned. She wasn't very comfortable with herself. For almost all of her life, she relied on Lori to help her out with almost everything. Unless it was her craftsmanship, Leni had to give all credit of what little she understood to Lori teaching her. Seeing Luna, her first younger sister, avoid her gaze in disappointment did more than upset her.

Sighing in exasperation, Leni groaned. "I miss Lori."

Luna had been texting Sam when she said that, yet it prompted her to look up to her second eldest sister.

"I know you do," replied Luna. She was about to tell her to get over it when she saw Leni's defeated frown. Realizing she must have insulted her, Luna slapped her forehead. "I'm sorry Leni. I know how important she was to you. Believe me, I miss her too. I hope she's doing well in college."

Without a proofread, Luna had sent an unfinished text to Sam. She received it, and was promptly confused. Quickly, she shot a text back.

[What do u mean by 'how r the sus']

Taking a look out from her phone, Sam looked around the house. It was dead quiet. Sam knew about the divorce, as Luna had informed her as soon as she got the news. Yet, she was sure these sisters of her would have more energy. Instead, the tomboy – Lana, was it? – just causally played with their dog. Lucy, that creepy goth, was minding her own business in her room, prompted by a "do not disturb" sign on it. The youngest, Lisa, was busy in her own room, playing around with her chemistry set. Instead of engaged, Sam found herself bored to tears around her bestie's little sisters. Not wanting to outright tell Luna that her sisters were not as active as she had heard, Sam just decided to send Luna a simple text.

[Ur sisters r fine]

Back at Bangers and Mosh, Rita finally made her way back to the table, holding a second cocktail in one hand, and her daughters' other drinks in her other arm. She was notably a lot more clumsy in her movement, spilling a little bit of Leni's water and splashing a little bit of Luna's coke on the table. Leni darted a look at Luna, finally understanding what she meant by Rita being a little bit off. Wanting to confirm everything for herself, Leni gazed at her mother's drink.

"Ooh!" She exclaimed, "That looks yummy! Can I try it?"

"No," Rita said, "It's got alcohol in it, and you're not old enough to drink yet. Plus, I'm sure you don't actually need to drown out your sorrows, you're kids, you have none!"

Leni gazed back at Luna, confused and worried.

Well, shit, Luna thought as she looked back at Leni, gritting her teeth in dismay. Through all the years of being her kid, Luna had never seen her mother (or father for that matter) drunk. This was a new, absolutely terrifying experience for her, and it left her shaking.

"As soon as we get our food," Luna stated, "We'll eat it, pay then leave. Got that mom?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever, Luna." Rita replied, giving a quick thumbs up.

Once the food finally came out, the girls began to eat as fast as they could. Leni finally understood what a shepherd's pie was, and got to look at it for most of the night. Rita took her sweet time going back and forth between eating that enigma of a dish and ranting. The subjects varied, from complaining about her patients at Dr. Feinstein's office, to outright calling all men pigs to yapping about how the shepherd's pie was undercooked, only ever eating half of it. Usually, Luna would keep her mouth shut and try to ignore these tangents, but there were times when Rita singled her out. Leni was ignored during the entire tirade.

"Luna, you're so lucky, you know that?" Rita said.

Shifting in her chair, Luna chose to ignore this, yet she couldn't.

"Luna!" Rita snapped, clearly drunk, "Listen to your mother!"

Luna took her last gulp of the haggis and tatties. She stared back at her mother, eye twitching. "What?"

"You're a lesbian," Rita continued, slurring as she spoke, "That means you can shun men for the rest of your life. You won't meet some assholic dickhead who will fuck you over 11 god damn times then say that he 'has no time and energy to—"

"Mom!" Luna screamed. The restaurant went quiet. Noticing the sudden attention around her, Luna began to feel sick. While she loved being the center of attention when it came to performing, she hated being embarrassed. A knot tugged in her stomach as she tried to clarify herself, but nothing came out.

"As I was saying," Rita began again, "You won't need to meet any—"

"Check please!" Leni yelled. It wasn't very common for her to take initiative, but she couldn't bear to see Luna that sheepish again. It couldn't come fast enough as Rita rambled on. The restaurant returned to business as usual as the waiter received payment and the girls rushed out of the restaurant as fast as they could.

Rita kept on with her drunken ramblings. "And that's why from now on, there will be NO boys in the house. Got it?"

"Sure mom," Luna said as she opened the back seat of the sedan, throwing Rita in back, making sure that she was fully strapped in. As soon as she was, Luna jumped in the driver's seat, checked with Leni, and plugged in her iPod. The song started – another Blur song off the same album, this time "Bank Holiday." As soon as the song kicked in, she revved up the engine, and pulled onto the street as fast as she could. It was a short drive home, but Luna made sure she wouldn't have to listen to her mother's drunk ramblings for another minute. Once pulled into the driveway, Luna promptly hauled Rita out and dragged her to the door, pushing it open without much effort. Once again, the kids left the door unlocked. _Dad would be pissed,_ Luna thought to herself, _too bad he's not here to chew us out._

Inside the house, Sam was just sitting on the couch watching a music video – Blur's "Beetlebum" – when Luna barged in. Luna was still getting used to the silence of the house, so she was a bit startled when she saw Sam making herself at home. As much as Luna would have loved to chat, though, now was _not_ a good time.

"Luna! And Ms…" Sam stuttered.

"Anderssen." Rita slurred. "It's Swedish."

Luna's blood boiled as her face burned from being immediately flustered. That same knot wrapped around Luna's throat as she dry heaved her words. The situation couldn't have been more awkward, and Luna didn't want it to get even more tense. She guided her Mom to her room, and let her in. Turning back to Sam, Luna grinned as widely as she could.

"H-hey," Luna trailed off.

"Hey!" Sam said.

The two stared at each other for a moment, only to be interrupted by Leni.

"Luna," Leni said, "Can I lock the car door? I don't think we locked it."

Luna handed the keys to Leni. _At least someone cares,_ she thought. Turning back to Sam, Luna tried to shatter the silence.

"How was…" Luna started.

"Babysitting was pretty good." Sam said, scratching her elbow, "I expected your family to be a bit more… how do I put it…"

Luna dropped her expression. "Loud?"

"Yeah!" Sam immediately covered her mouth, "Oh, sorry."

Luna laughed, a bit awkwardly, "it's alright. Mom hasn't forced us to change our last names yet."

Not wanting the situation to go on much longer, Luna grabbed Rita's purse and pulled out $60. She handed it to Sam with a quick "see you at school tomorrow" as she whisked her out the door. Sam stood by the door, perplexed and a little insulted by the sudden kick out. Yet, she looked in her hand. $60 was nothing to sneeze by, so she just shrugged and left. She passed by Leni, who had accidentally locked herself in with the child security lock. A quick door open later, Sam saved her from having to spent the night there. Leni thanked Sam with enthusiasm as she galloped back to the house.

Slapping her forehead and trembling, Luna cursed to herself while walking up to her room. Leni followed suit. Before Luna got to the door, though, Leni tapped her shoulder.

"Don't touch me." Luna snapped. She slammed the door. Once inside, Luna rushed to her bed, picked up her pillow and screamed. Her anxiety hadn't been this bad in years. She hadn't meant to take out her anger on Sam and Leni, but they just happened to be in the blast radius. Gritting her teeth, Luna quickly sent a text to both Leni and Sam.

[I'm so sorry, I'll explain tomorrow.]

Luna lied down on her bed and stared at the ceiling. There was no point in moving unless someone was going to respond to her text messages. In the end, she did get a response, but not in the way she was expecting. A few raps on the door were followed by it opening. Leni peered out from the otherside, a worried look plastered on her face.

"Luna," she asked, "Are you okay?"

Luna sat up, grateful that she at least got a response. "I said I'll tell you tomorrow. But thanks for putting up with me these past few hours."

Leni nodded. "I think I'm starting to get what you meant earlier. I think Mom needs some help."

"Can we talk about that tomorrow?" Luna said, "I kinda wanna be alone right now."

"Sure." Leni responded, "Just wanted you to know that you can talk to me about anything."

Luna smiled. "Thank you so much, Lens. Goodnight!"

Once Leni was back in her room, Luna crawled back into her bed. A wave of melancholy finally crashed down as she fully processed the horrid day. She thought about how badly her Mom had embarrassed her in front of Sam and how Sam probably hated her now. On top of this, Sam hadn't replied yet, meaning that it was true. Luna let her mind wander to all sorts of places. One such place was her Dad. What was he doing out in California? Why couldn't he stay somewhere close?

Perplexing as it was, Luna hoped the best for him. After all, he was a single dad with five kids now. Still, Luna missed holding Lily and being her designated babysitter. Luna didn't miss Lola's personality so much, but she'd be damned is she didn't respect the little rapscallion. The next three Luna knew she'd for sure miss. Lincoln was Luna's main musical ping pong table; they'd trade music on the regular and learn to appreciate each others tastes that way. Lynn was willing to practice moshing with Luna and was one of the few to actually be receptive to her harsher punk music. Luan… was Luan. Sure, as obnoxious as she was, Luna didn't realize how often Luan specifically made herself a punching bag to divert Luna's anxiety and anger away from her other siblings. So many memories in this now somewhat empty bedroom were now void because of the divorce. Luna shut her eyes, trying to force herself to sleep. Yet, the room was exceedingly silent, which only emphasized the buzzing in Luna's ears.

Tossing and turning, Luna couldn't quite get comfortable in bed. Before long, Luna gave up. She climbed to the end of the bed and started to get down – thud. It was a single bed. On the nightstand was just an alarm clock, no camera. The obnoxious comedienne usually helped Luna forget about her growing problem with tinnitus. Usually by now, Luan would have said at least one or two hilarious statements in her sleep. Without much else to do, Luna pulled up a document of things Luan had said in her sleep on her phone.

 _"I haven't worked here in t-towers t-t-hours hours."_

Working herself to a giggle, Luna found another random statement.

 _"Diagnosed with uhhhhhh"_

Luna suppressed her laughter, not wanting to wake up her sisters. She walked over to the side of her bed and sat down, sides hurting. She read something Luan said a few weeks ago, back when she was still living in the house.

 _"Luna, have you spidermantallica?"_

This one hit Luna too close. A surge of tears replaced the jolly laughter Luna had infected herself with. She curled herself in her bed and quietly cried. There would be no more sharing funny videos, or recording the stupid things Luan said in her sleep. No more would Luna sneak into R rated comedies with Luan. The rockstar didn't know how much she had missed her until a solid week after she had breezed through.

* * *

A/N: Holy crap that was a ton of words. One more thing I wanted to address: I will be referring to real life bands AS those bands, not as funny knockoffs like Mick Swagger (Mick Jagger/The Rolling Stones) and SMOOCH (KISS). My main reason for doing this is so that nobody gets confused when Luna refers to a band, and also so that I don't have to call Blur "Smudge" or the Kinks "The Kanks". Also, the Spice Girls exist in this universe, so I don't see why Blur and the Kinks can't.

Sidenote, I had a roommate who talked in his sleep. This was in the dorms, so I heard every single word, to the point where I wrote almost all of it down. Luan's sleep lines toward the end are all based off of actual things I heard my roommate say.

Anyway, the next chapter will probably be back in Rose Grove again. See you in a little bit!


	5. Chapter 5: Rose Grove

A/N: As with chapter 3, I have some questions to answer, so feel free to write a review if you want a question answered.

"As always, idea by NorththeGem on Tumblr, and we have an RP group called allforone-oneforeleven over on Tumblr as well. Apply if you're interested in Literary Roleplaying and practicing your writing skills!

* * *

 _Rose Grove_

Watching as Vanzilla quickly pulled away, Lincoln checked his phone for the time. It was 7:30 in the morning, and the entire school was deserted, save for a few of the janitors and some other early bird students. Still, Lincoln was tired as all heck. Sitting next to him on a bench outside was Lola. To say that she was tired was a complete understatement. Holding Lily was a chore for her as she faded in and out of consciousness. Lincoln was quick to wake her up every time, and even if Lola didn't say it, she appreciated it.

"Relax, Linky," she confided, struggling to keep her eyes open, "I can handle this."

Lincoln watched her little brat of a sister bob her head as she fell asleep on the bench. A little bit of snoring later, Lola woke up and felt the top of her head. Something was missing.

"Oh no…" Lola said.

Checking her little sister's head, he noticed that something missing. "You left your tiara at home?"

Lola looked back at her older brother, panicked. "Yeah!" She yelled, "Now no one's going to believe me when I say I'm a pageant queen!"

"I'll still believe you," Lincoln tried his hand at being more responsible than he usually was. He gave her a thumbs up.

"You're not the audience I'm trying to impress here," Lola snapped, "If I don't immediately become the most popular girl here, then my pageant career is ruined! Do you hear me? Ruined!"

"Yes," Lincoln replied, calm as ever, "I heard you. But just trust me, be yourself and you're sure to make friends. I know, it's going to be hard at first, but I've been talking to Ronnie Anne about everything, and she's confident we'll be fine. She's doing fine in Chicago, after all." Lincoln leaned in to hug Lola, but Lola clumsily shook him off.

"What if people hate me?" Lola asked.

"What do you—" Lincoln stopped himself from going further, hoping not to embarrass her sister.

"Don't think I don't know my bad personality. After the entire stunt double thing with Lindsey Sweetwater, I just sort of, you know, realized that I'm…" She trailed off.

A silence hung between the two siblings as a trickle of students began to filter into the school. Before the students could totally surround the two siblings, Lincoln got up. He had to take initiative now. While he wasn't used to saying it himself, it was time for him to man up.

"Lola," Lincoln started, "I believe in you. I know you can make friends at this new school, but you just have to believe in yourself. Here, we don't have much time before class, but we can meet up at recess. How does that sound?"

She shrugged and sighed, finally picking herself up. Yet, as soon as Lola got up, she started to fumble with Lily. Thankfully, Lincoln was there to grab Lily.

"I'll take her to the daycare," Lincoln said.

Lola smiled. "Thanks, Linky."

* * *

"Hi everyone, my name is Lincoln Loud, and it's nice to meet you all!"

A subtle clap rang throughout Ms. Winston's 6th Grade english class. John Sutter Elementary School was a K-8 with a daycare and preschool nearby, so it was a no brainer for their father to register them here. It came at the cost of being slightly out of the way of his father's commute, but did save a few extra destinations along the way.  
Lincoln took his seat in the middle of the class, gliding with confidence. After managing to cheer up Lola, he felt like he could do anything. What he couldn't do, however, was understand the new vocabulary words being taught in this class. As much as he tried to keep up, he kept fumbling the definitions of these complex words. Of course he wouldn't know the definitions of such words like "pretentious," "grandiloquent," and "sesquipedalian," but he was expected to know them at this rate. He wasn't exactly following along, but he could at least fake his way through. As soon as the recess bell rang, Lincoln sprinted through the halls to get down to where the 2supnd/sup graders were. It was his time to check in with Lola, and he didn't intend to be late. The recess lady, however, had a different idea.

"Just where do you think you're going, young man?" The recess lady accused.

Lincoln turned around, eyebrow raised. "I just want to check in with my sister. She's in Mrs. Lopez's class. Are they on recess yet?"

"They already went to recess." The lady explained. "Have you ever looked at your school schedule, young man?"

He hadn't. Fumbling around his pockets, he tried to pull out his schedule, but all he ended up pulling out were his pencils. After a little bit of shuffling, he finally found his schedule, stating the differences between each class's recesses.

"So I can't go see my little sister?" He asked.

"Nope. Wait until after school." The lady said.

Slouching a bit, Lincoln paced on to his next class. He wasn't worried about himself, but rather, he was worried sick for Lola. Thankfully, he would be able to watch over the recess field during history class. Of all of his classes, this was his favorite, since it required more listening skills than anything. Living in a house of 10 sisters, he got quite good at parsing the important information from the chaos. As the time ticked, Lincoln would occasionally glance out the window to see if the 2nd graders had gotten out yet. Most of the way into class, he finally saw kids filtering out of their classrooms for lunch. Lincoln scanned every single child to see if his sister was amongst them. He thought he had seen them when his teacher call him out.

"Loud!" The teacher said, "Lunch isn't for another hour. Go to your next class."

Lincoln looked back and saw half the class gone, the other half laughing at him. He sighed, hoping to perhaps get a glimpse at Lola in math. This was not the case, however, as math didn't have a clear view of the playground.

* * *

Down on the playground, Lola paced back and forth, avoiding the childhood mayhem. She wasn't sporty enough to play on the playground, and she didn't know how to talk to the other girls. This wasn't to say that she didn't try, however. At an earlier recess, she had approached some nicely dressed clique, yet she was laughed off. One of the girls was in her class and sat next to her, which meant she had seen Lola's miserable, sleep deprived attempt at trying to read a simple passage during class. Of course, Lola didn't mean to screw everything up, she just had simple trouble reading as always. For that, she was denied entry into a group of girls she thought she could get along well with.

As a pageant queen, this epic failure to get into the highest clique seethed her. At least the audience in Royal Woods knew her enough to fear her. To Lola, Californians were already too wary of her. Without even a single competition in her new home, her career was over, all because she couldn't read a sentence fast enough without stumbling. She had mentioned she was a pageant queen back in Royal Woods, but given the reaction by the clique, no one bothered to believe her. The more Lola mulled over it, though, the more she realized that maybe her tiara was just going to get her into bigger trouble. No longer would people just accept Lola as the beauty princess she was. Here in California, she had to start from the beginning.

All Lola was able to do for lunch, after eating her peanut butter and jelly sandwich, was to walk alone. She sat on a wall nearby the girl's restroom. She kept on thinking about Lana and how she might have been faring. For all she knew, Lana was probably just going about business as usual, eating mud and playing with the boys near the creek. Even if they were the exact opposite when it came to personality, Lola couldn't help but sorely miss her twin sister. They might have been fraternal, but that didn't stop them from being bluebells together and serving side by side terms as hall monitors. The more she thought of her, the more she missed her. Before long, Lola felt her stomach churn as she internally yelled at herself for starting to cry. Lana would have wanted her to be stronger than this.

The same group of girls that had giggled Lola out of their clique passed by Lola while going to the bathroom, exchanging weird looks and snickers as they filed in. Lola was about to make her escape when she heard a cacophony from that same room. Soon, a girl with messy brown hair and large glasses rushed past Lola and into the end of the hall. Lola recognized her as a girl in her class, so she decided to follow her. Alas, running with heels wasn't a great idea, and soon, Lola's foot began to cramp up. Thankfully, the girl with the brown hair and glasses was just around the corner, crying. Upon closer inspection, her hair was filled with filth, probably from the garbage can. Under the normal run of things, Lola would have nothing to do with garbage covered people, unless it was Lana. This, however, was not the normal run of things, and Lola felt she had nothing to lose. Without much more hesitation, and desperate for someone to talk to, she walked up to the trashed girl.

"Are you alright?" Lola asked.

The girl turned to look at Lola, allowing Lola to get a better look at her. She wore a plain green t-shirt over pink sweatpants with black tennis shoes. Almost every aspect of her looked exactly like Lisa, except for her darker skin. While Lola desperately wanted to make a friend, she didn't really know how to handle sympathy without a few backhanded remarks.

"Look, I know what those girls did to you," Lola said, "and I would have helped them if they accepted me into their group. But they didn't so that's their loss." She smirked, and offered the girl a hand. "I'm Lola, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Flinching from Lola's hand suddenly moving towards her, the girl adjusted her glasses and looked back up. Seeing Lola's grin confused her. Before now, no one had ever talked to her without some ulterior motive, so needless to say, she was a bit guarded.

Lola grew impatient. "Look, do you want to be my friend or not?" She said, pushing her hand forward to emphasize.

The other girl looked down, but grabbed Lola's hand.

"…sorry." She remarked. She mumbled her name, but Lola didn't hear it. When asked to say it louder, she only slightly mumbled louder. "I'm Adriana."

The bell chimed, letting them know lunch was over. Lola smiled and hugged her, trying to avoid the garbage on her new friend's hair. "Let's get you cleaned up."

* * *

After school, Lincoln walked over to his next location. His instructions from Dad were simple: stay put in the after school club until Lynn and Luan come by from their high school. San Juan high school wasn't too far, only a mile walk, so Lincoln felt it was fair to him. What he wasn't so sure about was Lola. He knew Lola would have a tough time adapting, so he figured he would stay by her side for as long as he could. Once at the after school program's room over by the day care, Lincoln checked in and asked for his sister.

"I don't know if you're sister's here or not." The after-school worker said. "Have you checked by her room?"

Lincoln dropped his backpack off and wandered back to the main part of the school, calling out for Lola. Before long, he noticed a group of girls cackling out of the girl's bathroom. Looking like the kinds of girls Lola would hang out with, he asked them if they'd seen his sister.

"Oh the new girl?" The redhead asked.

"Lola?" The blonde laughed. "Have you checked the trash?"

The three burst out cackling. Lincoln's stomach churned as he watched the clique moved away. Looking back towards the bathroom, he noticed a familiar set of eyes peeking out of the door. The eyes were filled with a set of rage only he knew of. He ran over to the bathroom door.

"Just you wait," snickered Lola, covered in trash, "I might be prissy like you, but I can at least handle more trash than you!"

"There you are!" Lincoln said, "Next time, just meet me at the front door! What's with those girls?"

Lola walked out to the hallway. She dragged another girl out with her. Both had trash dumped on their heads. While the other girl was crying, Lola had a smirk of vengeance only she was capable of. Lincoln fears were real: Lola had been dealing with this move only knew of one way to react to his little sister being bullied, that was trying to hug and reassure that everything would be fine for Lola. She promptly shoved him off.

"Where were you at first recess like you said you'd be?" Lola accused.

"I'm sorry I couldn't meet you," Lincoln said, "It's just that 6th grade schedules are different from 2nd grade schedules."

Lola was still miffed at everything, but at the risk of losing her one friend, she only slapped her forehead. "I was counting on you, Linky!"

"Come on," Lincoln said, "We have to go to the after-school club."

Lola rolled her eyes, but followed with Lincoln. She pulled Adriana with her, not wanting her to feel left out.

"…who is he?" Adriana asked.

"Oh, I beg your pardon." Lola giggled. "Linky!"

Lincoln turned back around to his little sister. "Are you coming or not?"

"I am!" Lola said. "This is my new friend, Adriana. Adriana, this is Lincoln. He's my big brother, and the most reliable person I know."

* * *

A/N: Time for some questions and answers.

TheLynnster asks: "Hey can you please make Rita's side, not be focused on Luna entirety, since so many other stories just focus on Luna and not the other family. Since both chapters on Rita's side is heavily focused on Luna, I wanna know how the other sisters are feeling, great story though!"  
As I said earlier, I feel Luna is the easiest character for me to write, but I get where you're coming from. I feel like I was excessively harsh on Rita in that last chapter, so I hope to clear everything up on the next chapter. Don't worry, Luna won't be the only one getting all the attention in future Royal Woods chapters!

Guest Asks: "Is Luna a lesbian or bisexual in this story?"  
She's bi. I'm basing most of my characterizations on the canon, with liberties taken where seen fit.

Guest Stereotype Asks: "I'm pretty sure haggis is banned by the USDA, so I don't know why Luna was eating it."  
Shhhhhhhh…. Don't tell the NSA… In all seriousness though, I did not know that. It would have helped me get through customs easier once upon a time. For those living in countries where it isn't banned: Go try it, it's delicious. For those living where it is banned: Go to Scotland.

Toybot asks: "So...why did they sperate children based on roommates?"  
Short answer: drama. Long Answer: I mostly separated them like this so the sisters can have interactions with sisters they might not usually talk to. In universe, I justified with Lynn Sr. wanting to take the neatest children, so he wouldn't have to worry about the deposit incase Lana tracked mud into the house, or Luna smashing a guitar on the wall. Of course, he also has Lynn, so…


	6. Chapter 6: Royal Woods

**A/N: Hello people, sorry for the delay! More info at the bottom.**

 **As always, inspired by an idea by Norththegem on tumblr. Come check out our Loud House RP group at One for All - All for Eleven on tumblr!**

* * *

 _Royal Woods, MI_

A couple of sharp, rhythmic knocks shook Lucy awake. Luna had been the first to get up – a rarity in this house . Normally, Lynn would have shot up and began her morning exercises, but there was no activity to be heard. Lucy was forced to give up her bats after Lynn was bitten and had to be rushed to the hospital, nearly costing her volleyball championship. Her parents weren't ones for major punishment, but upon reading animal laws in Michigan, found out that bats were banned as pets. Lucy only sighed as her pet was given up to the zoo. As much as she wanted to, though, she couldn't get herself to cry. Lucy spent the next months wonder just why she couldn't express herself that well. Of course, she had her poetry, but she hadn't been able to write anything since school got out.

When Lucy got out of her room, she saw her other siblings slowly getting ready. A quick glimpse of Luna was enough to show that she did not sleep well. It wasn't just Lola who was an insufferable monster in the morning. Before her morning cup of coffee, Luna was almost as cranky. Notably, though, their mother wasn't up and running. Lucy muttered about it as Luna stepped into the bathroom first, slamming the door behind her.

The rockstar replied through the door, "Don't worry, she's probably just hungover."

Second in the bathroom line was Leni. "Wait, what is she hanging over?" She began to panic, "Do we need to help her down?"

Lisa, in the very back of the line, was always quick to correct her. "Negatory. It's what happens when one drinks ethanol based fermented liquids – street name Alcohol – and doesn't replenish their internal supply of dihydrogen monoxide."

Lana stood in front of Lisa, scratching her head, struggling to process the sentence, eventually she just sighed and gave up. She too looked tired as ever. Without Lynn to be the buffer between her and Lana, Lana's night terrors were even more audible than before. From the bathroom, Luna could be heard singing something, yet she was more likely yelling. She usually sang in the shower, but her lyrics this time were a lot more cutting and grating, specifically aimed at their mom. Lucy couldn't bear to listen. Mom had been the only one in her family to even notice her a bit. Sure, she told Lucy that her stares were creepy, but at least she would listen to Lucy without assuming that she could just get over it. Lucy loved her mother. She couldn't stand Luna's aimed yelling, so she decided to run downstairs.

"Where are you going, Lucy?" Lana asked, barely staying awake.

"I'm waking up mom." Lucy said.

When she knocked on the door to her mother's room, Lucy heard a low groan. She tried to open the door, though usually that didn't— it worked. Stepping in, Lucy found herself horrified at the sight before her. Mom was sprawled across the bed, face down, in the same dress she wore the night before. She was completely motionless, barely moving as Lucy cautiously walked over, tapping her shoulder. The groan returned as her mother opened her eyes. Looking up to see Lucy, she jumped up, clenching her head in the headrush.

"Mom?" Lucy said, worried.

"Morning, Lucy." Rita replied. She felt her forehead, clenching it a bit before moving to her side. She proceeded to complain about her headache, and how she couldn't remember the night before.

"Luna said it must be a hangover." Lucy suggested.

Rita's eyes went cold. She looked over to Lucy, quietly pleading that she take back what she said.

"What's wrong, mom?" Lucy leaned toward her.

"I… just…" Rita couldn't believe herself. Due to her near constant pregnancies over the past 18 years, she had sworn off alcohol. She never considered herself an alcoholic, but it was a problem she had with herself when she went to college. While there, she joined a sorority and developed a bit of a reputation as a party animal. Every weekend, she would almost over-drink and wake up in some strange place. She was never proud of it, and she always swore off the bottle by the next weekend, but she kept finding herself returning for comfort. As a result, she didn't do very well in school, and had to drop out and settle for an associate's degree in Dentistry just to land her current job, sacrificing her dream of becoming a novelist. The only thing she ever hoped for was that this news wouldn't trickle down to her children. Unfortunately, it looked like it did.

"I can go make breakfast if you want," Lucy mumbled as Rita stumbled her words.

Rita wanted to make it up to her children, but perhaps today, with her newly splitting headache, she could just swallow her pride.

"You're so sweet, Lucy." She said, smiling as Lucy walked off to fix omelettes for six.

It took Rita another few minutes just to leave her room. As she trudged through the living room and up the stairs, she passed Luna. Luna immediately glared at her as they passed, leaving Rita to really wonder what had gone on last night. She knew Luna could hold a grudge – just like she could – but seeing her own daughter ignore her like that killed her inside. What did I say, Luna, she pondered.`

Sighing at the top of the stair, Rita mumbled, "Good morning to you too, Luna."

* * *

All morning, Lana hadn't been able to focus on anything. It had been a week since Lola had left, and the older twin felt a little hollow. The divorce wasn't quite as messy as she had heard they could be, but the suddenness raised many questions for the twin herself. For one, when asked about why they broke up, Rita had only replied with "people grow apart." Lana mulled over that statement constantly, trying to figure out exactly why they do. It was due to that single line that she had stayed home when she would have normally gone to the creek with the boys or dumpster diving. It was the reason why she didn't outright express her disappointment when her mother told her she wasn't allowed to mess with her new car. Still, Lana tried to keep herself as occupied as possible when at home, whether that was tinkering with the toilet and plumbing, or feeding and maintaining her many pets.

While she was already in bed the previous night by the time Mom, Leni, and Luna came home, she couldn't help but overhear the conversations. Normally coolheaded Luna had been driven mad, and apparently she blamed Mom on it. Of course, when asked, neither of them gave a straight answer as Luna, clearly still angry at the situation, immediately tried to push everyone to get ready faster. Mom, on the other hand, was still getting ready, much slower than usual, to the point that Lana wanted to ask what was wrong. Luna refused to let this happen, though, as she shoved cereal in everyone's face and drove them off to school.

"Lana!" The 2nd grade teacher, Ms. Hawthorne, said.

Lana snapped awake. Her chronic night terrors were quite a problem, keeping her awake late at night. Without Lola around to provide a sleep metronome with her snoring, Lana couldn't distract herself to bed. Usually, if this were to happen, Lana would always climb into Lori's bed for comfort. Time and time again, she wanted to tell her parents about them, but in the end, she never got around to it. Now more than ever, as she struggled to stay awake in the middle of class, Lana regretted not telling them.

"Anyway," Ms. Hawthorne continued, "I want you to meet your new classmate today. Come on, introduce yourself!"

Next to Lana, in the seat that used to house Lola, stood up an auburn haired girl, wearing an eerily similar pink dress and a red bow on her head. Before completely shuttering for terror, Lana's first thought was a bittersweet nostalgia of her two minute younger sister. Of course, Lola wasn't here, and in her place stood a pageant shaped abomination.

Waving like the Queen of England, she spoke. "Hello, I'm Lindsey Sweetwater! It's a pleasure to meet all of you!"

The class clapped, all except for Lana. As Lindsey scanned the room, Lana sat paralyzed. They made eye contact. Lana saw all seven of her years flash before her eyes as Lindsey's plastic smile momentarily flickered. Lana didn't need to introduce herself to her at all, as Lindsey knew exactly who she was. Lana, usually a superstitious type, knew that Lola's years of bad karma were going to come crashing down on her.

"Moving forward," Ms. Hawthorne continued, "let's start class with a little reading exercise. Let's get into pairs, shall we?"

Lana ducked in her chair as Ms. Hawthorne began to rattle off pairs. This proved fruitless, as Lindsey was already making her way to join her desk with Lana's. Swallowing a ball of spit, Lana put on her best forced smile. _Time to put that useless month in finishing school to work,_ she thought.

"Uhhh, How do you do, new kid?" Lana said.

Lindsey laughed with a snorted cackle. "Oh please," she smirked, "Just Lindsey's fine. You're Lola's sister, right?"

Feeling her gut twist, Lana found herself trembling. Right next to her was her twin sister's big pageant rival, and she couldn't do anything because it was in the middle of class. Lana would have preferred to stay far away from the diva if anything. In the end, Lana could only smile back at her.

Lindsey scoffed, "Fine then. Ignore me." As she read the passage to herself, she would occasionally glance back at Lana. The moment the two made eye contact again, Lindsey pulled Lana towards her.

"Listen," Lindsey whispered, "I know who you are, Lana Loud. I know everything about you and your gross life. Lola always complained about you, even after you tried to compete for her." She giggled, glaring straight into Lana's eyes.

"What the," Lana started, but Ms. Hawthorne loomed overhead.

"Making friends already, are we, Lindsey?" said Ms. Hawthorne.

Lindsey returned a massive grin. "Of course! I love learning about grammar with my new buddy, Lana!" She forced a side hug upon Lana. Lana smiled, but only out of nerved terror.

"That's good to hear!"

As Ms. Hawthorne walked away, Lindsey pushed Lana away, looking straight into Lana's eyes.

"Keep your gross hands away from me, Lana Loud," she whispered, "or else you'll get it."

Lana stood at the edge of the playground during recess, trying to fight off the returning sleepiness that plagued her life. As much as she wanted to play around on the monkey bars with all her friends, she couldn't keep herself awake for more than a few seconds at a time. While the rest of the boys seemed to be carefree in their enjoyment, Skippy happened to notice Lana spacing out.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Blinking back into consciousness, Lana nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Then come on!" Skippy said, jumping back onto the playground. "Watch me skip 3!"

She stood in place, watching as Skippy jumped onto the monkey bars, trying his best to skip as many as he could. Barely getting his hands on the third bar, all the boys cheered in unison at his major athletic feat. Skippy celebrated with his normal ritual of running around in circles with both of his hands raised. Lana would have participated in the cheering, but instead, she was distracted by a few first graders.

On the other side of the playground, a first grade boy found himself in a state of panic as he was being chased by _Lisa._ Lana could have stopped this just by grabbing Lisa and telling her to back off, but she knew it wasn't going to be enough to stop her. The boy, perpetually panicked, stared at Lana with puppy eyes as he got closer. Lana really began to register who he really was then. An occasional kid who hung out with Lana's friends, Sione was a timid boy from Fiji. Lisa must have never seen him before, so she was, in a sense just saying hi to him. Upon further inspection though, Lisa had a pair of scissor. Lana turned back to the boys, trying not to witness whatever Lisa was trying to accomplish.

The boys didn't bother to check on her this time, cheering Skippy's name as the new king of the bars. They marched off with him paraded above them, Lana completely missing her opportunity to celebrate. She tried to catch up. As she cheered on, the boys all seemed to ignore her, opting instead to carry their new king to his throne atop the climbing dome.

Looking around, Lana caught sight of Lindsey in the corner, hanging out with Lola's old friends. Once they noticed Lana looking back, they giggled. Lana rolled her eyes and spat. She wouldn't get involved with them then, she wouldn't get involved with them now. Before long, the school bell rang. Recess was over, and another round of Lindsey messing with Lana was about to begin.

* * *

"…And today, we are going to talk about the history of Michigan! First, we're going to start when the indians came over thousands of years…"

Lucy paid no attention to the lecture, instead, focusing on the poem in front of her. The only problem was that the poem in front of her only read a single title. 'Divorce', it read. _What a lame name for a poem_ , she thought, sighing. Of course, no one paid attention to her. It came in rather handy at times like these, but Lucy still had to live with the prospect of trying to ignore the silence at home.

Looking up from her paper, Lucy glanced at the rest of the room. They all looked so happy, so content with their lives. Lucy normally lived in perpetual boredom at best, depression at its worst, but the way she currently felt about the entire situation at home all but confused her. Dad had left with half of the family, leaving Lucy behind in his wake. She tried not to dwell on the thought, but the history lecture going on in the background bored her to death.

She recounted all of her siblings, writing them down below the title of the unwritten poem. Lori was off at college. Leni and Luna stayed for some reason. Luan, Lynn, and Lincoln went to California, while her, Lana and Lisa were forced to stay. Lola and Lily were over in California for some incomplete reason. Lucy scratched her head. The division made no sense. Wouldn't Luna have been better off in California? She would have been able to live amongst celebrities, Lucy thought. The same would go for Lisa. Lucy didn't know much about education, but she knew that there were a few NCAA Football teams on the west coast because of Lynn's influence. According to Lynn, those school were pretty good, especially UCLA, Stanford, and Cal. On the other hand, Lincoln loved Royal Woods, and Lily…

"Lucy?" The teacher, Ms. Ryan, asked.

"Huh?" Lucy looked up.

"Didn't you hear the announcement?" said Ms. Ryan, "You and your sisters are going home early."

The entire class giggled. Lucy felt a wave of humiliation crash as she quickly got up and began her departure. Racing down to the principal's office, Lucy just wanted to scream. Even though she didn't care about anyone in the room, she still managed to feel embarrassed about the entire fiasco. Lucy wasn't used to dealing with this array of emotions. Usually, they flooded into her poetry book. This time, however, they landed squarely on her shoulders, flooding up without a single drip of inspiration. All of a sudden, the weight of the world felt too heavy. She wanted to have someone to discuss this type of dilemma with. Nobody had come to mind, yet, there was one sister who might have been able to help her.

"Luna…" she whispered.

Lana cocked her head to the side. "My name's Lana, Lucy."

Lucy sighed along as she entered Principal Huggins office, dragging behind the eager Lana. Lisa sat in the middle of the office, holding a lock of hair belonging to some poor first grader. After a prolonged silence, Principal Huggins asked Lisa if she knew what she did wrong.

"Actually, I don't think you understand the importance of this specimen," Lisa started, "I need to recreate the human genome so I can sequence the DNA of the Denisovans. Sione, being originally from a semi-remote island inhabited by a culture of sophisticatedly primitive wayfarers, street name Polynesia, but specifically Fiji, was my only chance at reviving it! With it, I can find a cure to hepatitis!"

Resting his forehead in the palm of his hand, Principal Huggins retorted, "Sione, the boy whose hair you cut without his permission, is crying in the nurse's office. Lisa, I understand you're immensely intelligent, but don't you ever think of other's feelings?"

"But it was for the greater good!" Lisa said, but she was cut off immediately.

"What greater good?" The principal got up, trying to cool himself off. "Lisa, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to suspend you for two days."

Lisa rolled her eyes. "Fine by me. I've got important tests to run."

Principal Huggins glared back, but he didn't immediately shout back. Taking a deep breath, he changed the sentence. "Two days of _in school_ suspension."

"Dang it." Lisa held herself from saying the more intense version of that phrase.

The principal looked back at the other Louds, turning his glare into a frown. He began to talk to them, wanting to send his condolences.

"Look, Louds," Principal Huggins said, "I know what you're going through must be painful. It's something that you might not understand at first, but eventually, you're going to have to face the facts of life. Sometimes, things were just never meant to be." Looking out the window, Principal Huggins sighed. "I hope Lincoln's doing alright in California."

The sisters looked at each other and rolled their eyes. All of them immediately wanted out of the room, but they instead were stuck listening to the principal's barely relatable tirade. Lana found herself falling asleep in her chair, just barely waking herself up a little bit after almost falling down. Once Principal Huggins had a gap in his speech, Lana made sure to capitalize on it.

"Can we go home now?" She asked, whining a bit.

Principal Huggins looked back at them. "All I really wanted to say was that if you need anyone to talk to, feel free to talk to me. Let me call your mother. Rita, was it?"

* * *

 **A/N: Alright. Time to address the real issues I'm having. If you know me, then you know that I'm an avid traveller who gets the best quality work done when abroad. Well, I haven't been out of my SF suburb in nearly a month, and I don't have much of a social life outside the internet, so I spend most of my time hanging out on discord and waiting for work to come my way. I've been updating my webcomic every week since June of 2017, so I've been working on something every week for nearly the past year, and I've finally hit my limit. It's come to the point where I can barely come up with acceptable plotlines for Louds Apart or even my own webcomic, and I feel like my art style has been degraded over time.**

 **This is not the end. I haven't peaked. I haven't even begun to peak. Louds Apart will continue, and you will read it because you're a fan, and that's just the way of the world.**

 **Dennis Reynolds monologue aside, I still plan on updating Louds Apart AND my webcomic, so just you wait. I promise not to disappoint you.**

 **I'll answer your questions next chapter, so please leave a review if you would like to get your question answered!**


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